Vodafone Australia, the product of a 2009 50/50 merger between Vodafone and Hutchison, and TPG, a fixed line service provider that has moved into offering mobile services, have announced plans to merge.

Major Australian media companies Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media have agreed terms to merge their respective businesses. The new combined entity will operate under the Nine brand name and house assets including: Nine’s free-to-air channels 9, 9Go, 9life and 9Gem; Fairfax’s newspapers The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review; digital businesses such as online streaming service Stan, which is already a joint-venture of the two companies, and Fairfax’s real-estate platform Domain; radio assets held by Fairfax via its majority ownership of Macquarie Media, which owns stations 2GB in Sydney, 3AW in Melbourne and 4BC in Brisbane.

Vodafone has entered the Australian streaming market with the launch of its Vodafone TV device. The Android TV-powered set-top box is the company’s first-ever streaming media device which provides access to popular content and services such as Netflix, Google Play Movies and YouTube. The device also features 4K compatible high definition resolution, Google voice-search functionality, integrated free-to-air TV tuner and Dual-band Wi-Fi receiver. Vodafone TV may be added to an existing contract for A$5 ($3.80) per month over 24 months or purchased outright for A$120 ($91) in-store.

IHS Markit has updated its Australian pay TV data in light of the latest guidance on the performance of market leader Foxtel provided by major shareholder News Corp Australia. Pay TV providers continue to show resilience but growth has plateaued, a sentiment echoed in the Q4 2017 filings by News Corp, which indicate a downward revision in its future outlook for the business. As such, IHS Markit has adjusted its forecasts on the Australian pay TV market accordingly, which now illustrate contrasting fortunes for the two main players – Foxtel’s subscriber base is going down, while Fetch TV’s is on the up.

Australian commercial free-to-air TV broadcaster Seven Network will launch 7plus, its new over-the-top (OTT) digital video streaming service, in November 2017. 7plus will feature exclusive original commissions in addition to live and on demand content.

IHS Markit has updated its Chinese cable reporting methodology in light of on-the-ground research into the country’s naming convention for operators in each of China’s 23 provinces. The update to our Chinese cable data within our TV and Broadband Media Intelligence Services aligns our coverage of the Chinese TV market with the 70+ markets we cover.

TV remains the most watched screen in Australia but cross-screen viewing behaviour is on the rise according to the first issue of the Australian Video Viewing Report Q1, 2017 published by OzTAM. Each week, 19.9 million Australians or 83.7% of the population watch broadcast TV at home either via free-to-air or pay TV channels. Each person watched an average of 79 hours and 30 minutes per month or 2 hours 29 minutes per day of broadcast TV during Q1 2017.

The roll-out of Australia’s high-speed National Broadband Network (NBN) is halfway complete. More than 5.7 million homes and businesses now have access to fast broadband by connecting to the NBN through a retail service provider. To reach the half way milestone NBN Co launched two satellites, built 1,700 fixed wireless sites, employed 6,000 people, installed 21,000 nodes and laid 63,000 kilometers of fibre.

Netflix has commissioned Tidelands, a primetime drama series, as its latest investment in local Australian content. Tidelands will debut exclusively on Netflix and premiere worldwide. The first season will have 10 episodes that run for 50 minutes each. Production will start in Queensland, Australia during 2018 by Brisbane-based Hoodlum Entertainment. There is no release date for the new series.

The government of Australia has unveiled sweeping media reforms, which will abolish broadcasting licence fees, relax media ownership laws and scrap rules limiting the reach of TV broadcasts. The reforms will also curb advertising of gambling services, fund the broadcasting of women’s and niche sports and trim the anti-siphoning list for sporting events.

IHS Markit has published the new data for Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. The new data provides information on Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay’s addressable smartphones by region and by country for 60+ countries from 2014 to 2021

AR and location-based mobile game Pokémon Go has reached first rank in each of the free and top grossing categories in each of its three launch countries after just five days. This early success demonstrates the potential for other leading console brands to generate significant mobile revenues, especially those that have held back from fully embracing the smartphone market.

International content producers Banijay and Zodiak have agreed to merge, a move that will create a new producer group generating revenues of around $1 billion, according to the companies. The new entity will span most major European markets and will also have interests in the US and a handful of other key territories, including Australia, India and Russia.

Australian pay TV service provider Foxtel has entered a binding agreement to acquire a 15% stake in commercial free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten for AU$77 million. Ten will become a 24.99% shareholder in Multi Channel Network and have the option to become a 10% shareholder in Presto.